Southwest Chief #3, August 11, 2008, MO to CA

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Passenger Train Historical Society

A non-profit organization of passenger train enhusiasts devoted to the presentation and exhibition of Passenger Train History, especially that of Amtrak.

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Above titles and graphics by: Steve Grande, TrainWeb.com, Announcement: http://www.trainweb.org/pths/

August 7 - 10, 2008

Two Nights and a Day on the

Southwest Chief LaPlata, Missouri, to Fullerton, California.

August 11, 2008

Life in Car 40, Transition Car.

When I received my ticket for this round trip from Fullerton, California, to La Plata, Missouri, I noticed that my return trip roomette to California was for Room 18, Car 40. I asked Steve Grande, owner of TrainWeb.com, if Car 40 was the Transition Car, a car between the one-level baggage car and the 2-level sleepers and other cars in the consist, usually used for employees.

He confirmed it and I thought this would be a good chance to see this seldom-used-by-passengers car. I like the lower level rooms because it is my opinion that they are smoother and more private since any through-train movement by passengers is on the upper level. And, any stored luggage is on the lower level as well as most of the bathrooms and the only shower in the car.

In the Sleepers, high-numbered roomettes are on the lower level, yet I'd never seen a roomette 18, so I didn't know if my Transition Car room would be on the upper or lower level.

As it turned out, the Transition Car has one room on the lower level, just a 1/2 car Conductor's office with 2 4-place tables, and the normal set of restrooms and shower, and the one handicapped room.

The upper level of the Transition Car has only roomettes, the front of the car (next to the baggage car) the roomettes are numbered 1 - 8, and are for employees. The back of the car (closest to the next sleepter) are roomettes 15-24 which are evidently being sold for revenue.

Sign at the top of the stairs.

Transition Sleeper Car Layout

I had room 18. Rm. 15 is the bedless room with one stable chair.

(Double-Click any photo in this Travelogue to see a double-sized copy; Click BACK in your browser to return to this page.)

Advantages of Transition Car (40)

I like the piece and quiet of the Transition Car and the fact that there are
more restrooms on the upper level.
Also, each restroom has a shower, so there is no need to go from a dressing/shower room to a restroom with a sink to accomplish your morning chores. There is the traditional dressing/shower room on the first level if you desire the extra room.
You do hear train announcements in the 40 Car.
There is one roomette that has no beds, but it has a comfortable, armless, swivel chair where you can photograph out both windows.

Disadvantages of Transition Car (40)

You are pretty much on your own in Car 40.
You are not told by anyone that this is anything but a normal sleeper car. By that, I mean your call button calls no attendant since the car next to the 40 car is also in charge of making beds and tending to passengers in the 40 car. So if you want to find the attendant, who cannot be reached by the call button, you need to search both levels of the 40 Car, the adjacent sleeper car, or the diner.
There are no shower towels in the bathroom/shower rooms. I asked an employee and she said they were downstairs. There is no bar soap in the bathroom/shower rooms upstairs.
As far as I can tell, the LSA does not come this far on the train to take dinner and lunch reservations. For my first meal, I had to go to the diner to get the lunch reservation.

Half of the lower level of the Transition Car 40 is labeled the Crew Lounge. This is one side with a table for 4 and the rest flat floor with trash can.

The other half is identical.

This is how Train 3's Car 40 was labeled.

Sights from the Southwest Chief in August travelling westward in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California

	Before automobiles, there were blacksmith shops, then they became Garages when automobiles came into being.
We had a 2X4 Jeep like this on our Hayden, Indiana, farm.	They haven't made a Ford Tractor like this in 50 years, but in the dry desert climate, not much rusts.

A 1930s Chrysler.	Trinidad, Colorado
Downtown Trinidad	I wonder when Ed served the last cowboy in his tavern.

Mining Ghost Town
Wootton Ranch

Going through a pass like this usually means sharp curves and 25 mph or less, a good time for photos of your own train.	Wooton Ranch and far peaks from farther up the grade to the Raton Tunnel.
Santa Fe put up a sign like this on both sides of the Tunnel. The west side sign still has a Santa Fe shield on the top bar of the sign (shown earlier in this report).	Knowing that this State Line Monument on the Colorado/New Mexico line is immediately outside the east portal of the tunnel, right us next to the track, I stood up in my room and looked down to try and photograph it. Just got it this time!

Train Travel Photo Trip: When you are anticipating a hard-to-get shot, like the state line marker between Colorado and New Mexico on the Southwest Chief (above and below), set your camera for a burst of shots. Other examples of shots when you might use the Burst/Continuous Mode: Traveling across a Bridge or through a Snow Shed or along a tree-lined right-of-way when trying to take a distant mountain range or lake. In each of these cases, you will have many unusable shots with bridge girders, shed posts, or trees blocking your view, but with Burst Mode, you will have many images from which to choose. Check your camera's manual for how to set for Burst or Continuous Mode. More about this camera setting:

Burst (Continuous)
By Vincent Bockaert
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=burst

Burst or Continuous Shooting mode is the digital camera's ability to take several shots immediately one after another, similar to a film SLR camera with a motorwind. The speed (number of frames per second or fps) and total number of frames differs greatly between camera types and models. The fps is a function of the shutter release and image processing systems of the camera. The number of frames that can be taken is defined by the size of the buffer where images are stored before they are processed (in case of a before image processing buffer) and written to the storage card.

The number of frames per second (fps) and total number of frames that can be shot in burst mode is continuously improving and is of course higher as you move from consumer and prosumer digital compacts to prosumer and professional digital SLRs. Digital compacts typically allow 1 to 3 fps with bursts of up to about 10 images while digital SLRs have fps of up to 7 or more and can shoot dozens of frames in JPEG and RAW. Some even allow an initial burst of higher fps followed by a slower but continuous fps until the storage card is full.

	On the west side of the Raton Tunnel, going down grade toward Raton, New Mexico, are cattle farms. In this case two windmills are being used to pump water from wells to cattle troughs.
I counted about 34 insulators (green and clear) on the crossbars of each trackside pole.	Downtown Raton, NM, where Boy Scouts board and detrain for their summer camp at 13,744-acre Philmont Boy Scout Ranch.

Las Vegas (The Fertile valleys)

Raton's sign, which is lighted at night, shows light wind on it's American Flag.	Boy Scouts boarding in Raton.
Downtown Raton, NM. Amtrak Station (right).

Downtown Raton and sign above town.	Loco. 138 and the Southwest Chief #3 at Raton, NM
Starvation Peak, NM.	Modern day 'covered wagon [camper]' stops at a Route 66, Phillips 66 Station for fuel with Starvation Peak in background.

Starvation Peak, On the Santa Fe Trail (above)
Santa Fe Trail New Mexico (NM)

This majestic eminence rises abruptly about fifteen miles west of Las Vegas, New Mex., and is visible most of the beautiful journey through mountainous scenery between Las Vegas and the Ancient City of Santa Fe. Legend has it that in early days a detachment of Spanish soldiers sought refuge on this peak, but being surrounded by Indians, sought death by starvation rather than torture at the hands of the Indians.


Vacated roundhouse, at Las Vegas, NM.	Rains come quickly and briefly in the New Mexico desert.

Another Jeep Station Wagon	Scene from the '50s. The newest of these 4 vehicles is a '54 Chevy! Fifty years in the New Mexico desert and still not rusted down to the frame!
Chevy Corral. Three '55 Chevys and an earlier vintage Chevy panel truck.	Private Coach at Lamy, NM, Station.

Things looked pretty normal as we pulled into Lamy, NM. However, as we stopped on the west end of the station, it was a movie set! They were set up on top of the coach on the west side of the station with their cameras, a stunt man was practicing on top of the east end of the car, with safety harness attached. The multinational film crew seemed interested in photographing the SWC as we were spotted for passengers.

Lamy Station, with van w/trailer for guests going to Santa Fe, NM.	Film crew and stunt man atop the former Atlantic Coast Line car.


Even with the excitement of a film being made, the station agent still loaded luggage onto the SWC.	Stuntman practicing his roll on top of rail car.

He detached the safety cable and came down from the car top.
This Santa Fe Southern, from Santa Fe, is a tourist train by day and beer train by night...transporting Bud from a regional warehouse to the main line at Lamy.	I like this adobe church on the southwest side of Lamy, facing the tracks.

To read my Santa Fe Southern Rail Travelogue, click here.

Arriving in Albuquerque, NM. Time to stretch near the train as they refuel and change the crew.	And time to shop for Indian crafts on the platform.
Southwest Chief #3 spotted at the ABQ Station.	Seldom seen green on the station wall.

A coach passenger peers out of the last coach's door in ABQ. A good vantage point for photographs while you are underway.	Each time in Albuquerque on this round trip, I saw the Rail Runner commuter train a few yards from our SWC. When the doors close, it makes a "Beep, Beep" sound.
	Always good ridership.

Caution Watch for trains on tracks.	A few steps up the platform, north, you can look down on Route 66.
I like the architecture of theTransportation Center, a true Intermodal Center with Amtrak, Greyhound, Rail Runner, Taxi, and Bus connections in one spot.

For years, this was the Amtrak Station, which is still standing.	It was warm in ABQ, so I made it back to my Roomette 18 in Car 40.
Some SWC passengers made it to the ice cream shop just past the parking structure, below the clock.	I returned to the train through the Transportation, past the Amtrak Ticket Office and waiting room.

South of ABQ as we waited on the main line at Corrhuente at Dalies Rd. I could see a stable freight awaiting an eastbound freight.	Then I saw a rare freight train meet in the desert. Rare in that this picture was taken from a train.
As the sun began to set on my full day on the westbound Southwest Chief, the New Mexico landscape caught my camera's eye.	The Best Picture I NEVER took. Not until after I looked this photo did I notice the rare glassy water in the desert reflecting the Ayers Rock-like vista. Otherwise, I would have included more of the lake in this photo.

Between Albuquerque and Gallup, along the Southwest Chief's Route, are the RED CLIFFS OF NEW MEXICO. These hills are known for their changing colors, especially in the afternoon summer light while I was watching them move by my window. Legend has it that the rocks got their color from the blood of a wounded stag as it fled through the hills. --from the Amtrak Southwest Chief Route Guide.

Don't you love the colorful, Spiritual legends of the Native Americans? I wish my Native American blood had included some of that wisdom and colorful language. My 1/16 Native American blood did evidently include a love for the outdoors, wildlife, and respect for the land, ancesters, and Spirit Father. My Great Grandmother was full-blooded Native American.

	A closer look at the same scene at left.
Gallup, NM, the "Indian Capital of the World."

Gallup, New Mexico, a meeting place for the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Apache, and Acoma Indians. On the eastbound Southwest Chief, a Tour Guide boards here and provides a geological and historical talk in the lounge car to Albuquerque. I presume a westbound guide was on our train until Gallup.

Route 66 runs parallel to the BNSF tracks through Gallup, so SWC riders have a good view of the downtown shops and hotels. The lyrics from Route 66 include Gallup and five other towns along the Southwest Chief's Route.

Route 66 penned in 1946 by Bobby Troup

Well if you ever plan to motor west,

Take my way take, that's the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Well it winds from Chicago to LA
More than two-thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Well it goes through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri
Oklahoma City looks so, so pretty.
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona,
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernardino.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
And take that California trip.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.


	We'll look back on this sign in the future and remark how low diesel (left) and unleaded (right) were in 2008.

Old Route 66 structures still stand.	Near the NM / AZ border
The state line.	Arizona Sunset, Aug. 11, 200, from the Southwest Chief #4.

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